Sleeve construction



1957 H. s. HEILBRONNER 2,775,771

SLEEVE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 22, 1954 v 3 Sheets-Sheet l IZZB 100 INVENTOR, HARRY S; HEILBROMNIER l/ 7 1 19 7 BY I HIS ATTORNEY- 1, 1957 H. s. HEILBRONNER 2,775,771

SLEEVE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 22, 1954 3 Sheets$heet 2 INVENTOR, HARRY S. HEILBR ONNER HIS ATTORNEY Jan. 1, 1957 H. s. HEILBRONNER 2,775,771

SLEEVE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 22, 1954' 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR, HAR BY s. HEILBRONNER' H I -S ATTORNEY.

SLEEVE CONSTRUCTION Harry S. Heilbronner, Perry, N. Y., assignor to The Perry lniging Company, Perry, N. Y., a corporation of New This invention relates to garment sleeves and more particularly to garment sleeve constructions of the variety having integrally attached, adjustable end closures or mittens, one object of this invention being the provision of an improved sleeve of this description having a more practical and economical type of construction.

It is often desirable in producing garments, particularly childrens and infants sleeping garments, to provide a sleeve construction with an integral mitten or closure on the outer end which may be conveniently used to enclose the wearers hands to prevent the same from becoming cold while sleeping, but which can be readily opened to free the wearers hands during walking hours. It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a sleeve construction of this nature, embodying an integral mitten, which may be more readily and economically manufactured than the styles heretofore in general use.

Sleeping garments and other kinds of childrens and infants clothing are customarily manufactured from knitted material in order to produce a garment that is soft and warm. Knitted material suitable for this use is most economically manufactured by circular knitting machines which produce this cloth in tubular form, ofany desired width, and this is the form in which such material is customarily supplied to garment manufacturers in the trade. For this reason, another object of thisinvention is the provision of a sleeve blank which may be more conveniently laid out on tubular material of the type in general use in the industry so that the sleeve may be more economically producd therefrom, than is the case with blanks heretofore in use.

Another object is provision of a blank for sleeves of this nature which may be so laid on continuous lengths of tubular knitted material that the wastage is greatly reduced as compared to patterns heretofore in use.

A still further object is the provision of a symmetrical blank for laying out sleeves of the above description so that the sleeves cut therefrom may be interchangeably used on either the right or the left side, thereby eliminating the necessity of sorting the sleeves prior to assembly of the garment.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a section of tubular material marked with a sleeve blank embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a section of cloth similar to that shown in Fig. l with a conventional or prior art sleeve blank laid out thereon;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one sleeve blank laid out ready for assembly;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3 showing the mitten part before assembly; d

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the blank of Fig. 3 partially assembled; I t

nited States Patent 0 "cc 2,775,771 Patented Jan. 1, 1957 Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the sleeve completely assembled with the mitten attached;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the sleeve of Fig. 6 attached to a garment with the mitten in closed position;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 with the mitten folded back upon itself in open position;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along lines 9'-9 in Fig. 7;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 10-10 in Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a view of a prior art sleeve as shown in Fig. 2 attached to the garment, and

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 8 with the projecting portion of the mitten turned partially inside out and tucked back within itself to overlie the sleeve.

A blank for garment sleeves embodying this invention and herein disclosed by way of illustration is generally shown in Fig. 1. Referring to that figure, 20 is a section of tubular material laid out flat for purposes of cutting. The blanks for four sleeves have been indicated thereon, three of which, 22, 23 and 24 are visible and one of which, 25, is hidden on the back surface of the tube lying directly under sleeve 23. It should be noted that since the blanks are symmetrical, the back portions of sleeves 22 and 24 and all of 25 are cut from the rear portions of the material, and, when unfolded, will be identical to sleeve 23.

Each sleeve blank comprises a main tapering body section 27, and an integral projecting portion 28 which forms the top half of the mitten when the sleeve is as sembled. Body section 27 is tapered and is bounded on the sides by straight lines 30 and 31 which run from the line 32 forming the shoulder seam to the cuff line 34. The projecting portion or mitten top 28 is formed in the center of the body section 27 and extends beyond cufl line 34 as shown in the figure. Mitten top 28 is bounded on the sides by two substantially parallel straight lines 36 intersecting cuff lines 34 at substantially right angles, and on the end by a curved line 37. The cuts forming the sides of the mitten top 28 are extended beyond cuff line 34 to form slits 33 and 39 in the body portion of the sleeve.

It will be noted that the tapering sides of the blank of each sleeve are bounded by single straight lines 30 and 31, the blanks of adjacent sleeves fit exactly in the whole cloth without any waste in between adjacent blanks. Thus, four sleeves may be cut from a single section of cloth of the proper width, using the entire area of cloth with the exceptions of portions 45, 46, 47, and 48 which constitute the waste in this operation.

The lower or bottom portion 50 of each mitten comprises a piece of cloth of the same general shape as mitten top 28. A number of bottom portions 50 may be cut from a section of cloth adjacent to the sleeves as shown in Fig. 1. It will be noted in the blank illustrated in Fig. 1 that five mitten bottom portions 50 are cut from each side of the tube, forming a total of 10 bottom portions, which utilize the entire width of the material. Since only four bottom portions 50 are required for the four sleeves in each row, two rows of bottom portions 50 need only be out after every five rows of sleeves in order to provide one complete mitten for each sleeve.

Fig. 3 shows one sleeve blank, 23, cut out and laid out in preparation for assembly. Cuff line 34 is first hemmed in order to produce a smooth edge. The outer sides of body section 27 are then laid over and edges 30 and 31 are sewn at 52 to produce a tubular sleeve form, as shown in Fig. 5. The lower mitten portion 50, which has been hemmed on the upper edge as shown in Fig. 4, is placed on the center part 28 of the sleeve as shown in Fig. 6 and seam 54 is then run around the edge of the mitt in order to produce a finished sleeve as illustrated in Fig. 6. The sleeve is then ready tobe attached to a garment 56 at shoulder line 32 in the manner shown in Fig. 7. As will be seen from Fig. 7, sleeve 23 is attached to the garment 5 6 with the longitudinal seam 52 of the sleeve in the lowermost position, so that the mitten bottom portion 50 is adjacent to and covers the palm of the wearer when the arm is extended in a natural position with the palm facing downwardly. Thus, the sleeve is symmetrical about a vertical plane passing through the arm of the wearer, and therefore the right and left hand sleeves are identical and therefore interchangeable. This makes it unnecessary for the sleeves to be sorted into right-hand and left-hand sleeves respectively before being attached to the garment, and therefore further tends to simplify the production of garments made according to this invention.

In use, the mitt on the end of the sleeve may be worn either in normal closed position as shown in Fig. 7, or in open position as shown in Fig. 8. In the closed position, the bottom portion 50 covers the wearers hand and overlaps the cuff line 34 of the sleeve proper. In this position, shown in perspective in Fig. 7 and cross section in Fig. 9, the infants hand is securely and warmly enclosed and there is no danger of its becoming uncovered by normal movements during sleep.

In the open position, the bottom section 50 is folded back over the top of mitten top 28, in the position shown in perspective in Fig. 8 and in cross section in Fig. 10. in this position, the infants hand may freely protrude from the end of the sleeve thereby allowing him to freely use his hands for playing during waking hours.

If it is found that the projecting portion of the mitten is troublesome and interferes with the normal hand movements of the wearer, the projecting portion may be tucked back within itself as shown in Fig. 12. In this position, mitten 50 overlies the body of the sleeve, leaving the wearers hand unencumbered.

The advantages of this construction are best illustrated by comparison of the above described blank with the conventional blanks heretofore used in cutting sleeves of this description. Such a blank is illustrated in Fig. 2, where conventional sleeves 97, 98, and 99 are laid out on a tube of cloth 96 similar to that shown in Fig. 1. In the con ventional blanks the mitt extension on the sleeve is placed upon either the front or the back of the sleeve, as the case may be, as shown in Fig. 11, rather than on the top overlapping half of the front and half of the back of the sleeve as shown in Fig. 8 and taught by this invention. Since it is necessary to have the sides of the mitts relatively straight and parallel in order to produce a satisfactory covering for the hand, it is necessary in laying out the conventional type of sleeve to have the sides of the mitts running parallel with the axis of the sleeve as shown at 100, 101, and 102 in Fig. 2. However, it is also necessary to have the sleeve proper tapered from the shoulder portion to the wrist portion in order to produce a satisfactory and presentable garment. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the upper end of the mitt with the shoulder portion of the sleeve by a line running at an angle to the axis of the sleeve such as lines 1% and 105 in Fig. 2. This combination of requirements of a straight sided mitt and a tapering sleeve necessarily results in sleeve blanks that cannot be nested together, thereby leaving a large waste area 107 between adjacent sleeves. When this is compared with the method employed in this invention, as shown in Fig. l, the saving of cloth obtained by the placing of the mitt in the center of the sleeve blank becomes apparent. Furthermore, the old pattern has the additional waste areas between the projecting ends of the mitts and the next row of sleeves or mitts, as the case may be, as indicated at 108 and 109 in Fig. 2. It is thus apparent, from a comparison of the figures that this new invention as illustrated in Fig. 1 permits much more economical use of cloth than the conventional blank as shown in Fig. 2.

Continuing the comparison of the blanks shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it is apparent that the slit 38 provided between the upper part of the mitt and the lower part of the present sleeve (Fig. 1) must be cut in the position shown at 110 in the prior art sleeve (Fig. 2). The corresponding slits in the upper and lower sleeves 97 and 99 in Fig. 2 lie along the upper and lower folds of the material as indicated by heavy lines 111 and 112 respectively. However, in order to cut these, the top sleeve 97 should be unfolded and laid out flat in the position corresponding to that of sleeve 98 in Fig. 2, as it is difficult to cut a single clean slit through a piece of cloth folded along the line of the slit. Either the cloth must be fiat in order to make a clean and accurate cut or else one blade of a pair of scissors must be inserted into the fold between the layers of cloth. This latter constitutes an additional hand operation for two out of every four sleeves in the blank shown in Fig. 2. In contrast to this, it should be noted that the corresponding slits 38 in the new blank embodying this invention may be cut while the cloth is in fiat position on the cutting table without any additional hand operations whatever.

Further, it should be noticed that in the conventional blank, each sleeve is asymmetrical about the longitudinal center line. In order to cut out the portion of cloth corresponding to area 109, in Fig. 2, area 115 must be removed from sleeve 99, and a corresponding portion 116 must be removed from sleeve '97. This presents a difficult problem which is inherent in all asymmetrical blanks; it is necessary to remove a portion of cloth in one layer of the tube without removing the corresponding area in the other layer. In the blank shown in Fig. 2, in order to remove area 115 from sleeve 99, a cut 119 must be made through the upper layer of cloth, leaving the corresponding lower layer attached to the sleeve to form the mitten back. Similarly, a cut 118 must be made in the upper layer of cloth on sleeve 97 in order to remove area 116. These cuts through one layer of cloth cannot be made while the cloth is laid out on the cutting table in the position shown in Fig. 2 without cutting the corresponding part of the other layer. This becomes particularly obvious when one considers the case Where a plurality of patterns are cut in one operation from a stack of cloth tubes. In this case cuts 118 and 119 are required in alternate layers of cloth, and these obviously cannot be made in one operation, in order to cut blanks from the entire stack of cloth tubes. Thus, a separate operation must be performed on two sleeves in every marked out blank length of cloth in the stack, in order to remove sections 115 and 116. This constitutes a second hand operation which must be done after the cloth has been removed from the cutting table and the sleeve opened, which not only involves additional labor, but also wastes the cloth corresponding to areas 115 and 116.

It is obvious from inspection of Fig. 2 that the sleeves are asymmetrically shaped and therefore the right sleeve differs from the left. For example, if sleeve 97 is a left sleeve, 99 will be a right sleeve, and so on. Thus, when sleeves are cut according to the conventional blank, right and left hand sleeves must be sonted out and separated so that the proper kind of sleeve will be sewn to the garment during the assembly operation.

It will thus be seen that this invention accomplishes its objects in that it eliminates all the disadvantages inherent in the conventional sleeve blanks. For example, the hand cutting and slitting operation heretofore required in the manufacture of sleeves of this description by a conventional method are eliminated.

In addition to this, this invention eliminates sorting of right-hand sleeves from left-hand sleeves prior to the assembly process, since .all sleeves manufactured according to this invention are symmetrical about a vertical plane and are therefore interchangeable. This invention .further results in a considerable saving of cloth by eliminating certain cut-out areas and by making it possible for adjacent sleeve blanks to abut each other and fit closely without distorting the desired shape of the components of the sleeve and mitt. For this reason the cutting operation is simplified and a considerable saving of cloth is efiected.

While this invention has been described in connection with childrens sleeping garments, it is to be understood that the principles embodied therein are equally applicable to other types of garments, which may be suitable for wear by both children and adults for other purposes.

It will be thus be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects and While it has been herein disclosed by refer ence to the details of a preferred embodiment, it is understood that such disclosure is intended in an illustrative, rather than a limiting sense, as it is contemplated that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts will readily occur to those skilled in the art, within the spirit of the invention and [the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A garment sleeve comprising a blank having a shoulder end and a cult end, opposite side edges converging from said shoulder end to said 'cufif end and stitched together to form said sleeve, .an extension forming a mitten top portion on said cufi end located substantially centrally between said side edges and between the inner ends of spaced, outwardly extending edges of said cuff end, said blank having a substantially symmetrical shape on opposite sides of a longitudinal center line from said shoulder end to said cuff end, and a mitten bottom portion for cooperation with said top portion to close the mitten.

2. A garment sleeve comprising a blank having a shoulder end and a cuff end, substantially straight opposite side edges converging from said should-er end to said cuft end 7 and stitched together with an under-arm seam, an extension forming a mitten top portion on said cuff end and located substantially centrally between said side edges and between the inner ends of spaced, outwardly extending edges of said c-ufl? end, and a mitten bottom portion for cooperation with said top portion to close the mitten.

3. A garment sleeve comprising a blank having a shoulder :end and a cufl end, opposite side edges converging from said shoulder end to said cufi end and stitched together to form said sleeve, an extension forming a mitten toip pontion on said cuff end located substantially centrally between said side edges and between the inner ends of spaced, outwardly extending edges of said cuff end, said mitten extension having substantially straight side edges extending inwardly of said cuff end and said blank having a substantially symmetrical shape on opposite sides of a longitudinal center line from said shoulder end to said cuff end, and a mitten bottom portion for cooperation with said top potrion to close the mitten, said bottom portion being foldable back on said top portion to open said mitten for free use of the hand.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 552,601 Williams Jan. 7, 1896 1,183,792 Aron May 16, 1916 2,236,715 Kapl-an Apr. 1, 1941 2,274,510 Wohl et al. Feb. 24, 1942 2,390,188 Sholder Dec. 4, 1945 2,553,847 Collins May '2-2, 1951 2,677,130 OHayer May 4, 1954 

